An investigation of poultry farm waste as potential fuel and source of nutrients for agricultural land

ABSTRACT

Poultry litter was subjected to water and diluted mineral acids leaching for nutrients extraction followed by its thermal and kinetic analysis. Nitric acid treatment yielded optimum results showing an increase of 33%, 30%, and 60%, in fixed carbon, volatile matter, and gross calorific values, respectively. Macronutrients prior and after the leaching process were found to be decreased to 50% in leached samples. Ignition and burn out temperatures were not affected with heating rates, whereas an inverse effect was found for activation energy during thermogravimetric and kinetic analysis. However, peak temperature was increased to 100°C and 50°C in case of water treated and untreated & nitric acid treated samples, respectively. The results showed potential utilization of extracted poultry litter in the energy matrix.

KEYWORDS:

• Poultry litter
• leaching
• macronutrients
• thermogravimetry
• activation energy